Cristiano Ronaldo’s topsy-turvy Saudi sideshow upstaged by power of Nuno

W hen Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr announced the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo in late December, their Instagram following jumped from less than 1 million to almost 15 million. On the pitch, despite Ronaldo’s best efforts, the Riyadh club slipped from first when he arrived to finish second in May as Nuno Espírito Santo led Al-Ittihad to a first championship since 2009.

This move was always about much more than football but there was plenty of that to talk about. A first league title as a coach for the former Tottenham and Wolves manager means his Portuguese compatriot will have to wait until next season for the chance to add to the seven domestic championships won with Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus.

That campaign may look very different and not just because the top tier will expand from 16 to 18 teams. More big names are on the way. Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and Karim Benzema – as well as coaches such as José Mourinho and Zinedine Zidane – are all being linked with Saudi Arabia. Once such speculation would have been dismissed, but things have changed.

“To have such players come, then the Saudi players will see a different mindset and approach from the top stars in the way they prepare,” says Roel Coumans, coach of the Saudi league club Abha. “To come to Saudi and believe it is easy is a big mistake, the league is very strong and the standard is definitely improving.”

Ronaldo, who is reportedly being paid about £175m a year until June 2025, scored 14 goals in his 16 league games as Al-Nassr tried to keep pace with the relentless Al-Ittihad. While the performances of the 38-year-old could be described as good rather than great, compared with some foreign players in Asia – (Carlos Tevez described his time in